Comrades,
Friends,
We are gathered here to pay tribute to the Historical Leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz in the second anniversary of his physical death in his journey towards immortality.
This is not a sad or melancholic homage. We come here to pay tribute to Fidel the one that we knew and that we accompanied in his long and tireless struggle. We pay homage to Fidel, the one of the oppressed and poor people of this world, the authentic revolutionary and intellectual committed to his epoch. We pay tribute to Fidel, the one who has a place in the history as a paradigm of resistance and dignity, whose symbol and actions fed the yearning for freedom and justice of millions and millions of women and men in the whole world.
It is not possible to understand the Latin American and the Caribbean Region and the 20th century neither without Fidel nor without the Cuban Revolution because Fidel and the Cuban Revolution contributed to change the world. Following the footsteps of Bolívar and Martí, he, along with el Ché and a group of young rebels, rallied an entire people longing for freedom and defeated the brutal Batista´s tyranny and forged the most profound and radical Revolution of our times, also a symbol of the anti-colonialist struggle and fights for the national freedom and the real emancipation of the peoples of the world.
In a selfish and deeply unequal world, Fidel bequeathed to us a country: Cuba without malnutrition, with tremendously low birth rates, with a school enrollment of 100% and an extremely high life expectancy, without children on the streets and with high standards of education and health; a country where women stopped being an object to become the subject of the history.
The outcomes of the Cuban society are valued and recognized in the entire world. We are not a perfect society and we do not presume to be that. That is the society we could build under his leadership and without a minute break in the face of the aggressions and perfidious campaigns, and a long and cruel blockade which is the most serious and flagrant violation of human rights of the Cuban people and that seeks to defeat and bend it.
Fidel´s life positioned us in definitions and paths and his death must not occur unnoticed. As every person who builds something has to face people who destroy it, he also had to deal with them. Fidel never wished to be indispensable because otherwise he would not have been revolutionary. He did what he had to do, “With that stubbornness of what is now stubborn, the stubbornness of assuming a foe, the stubbornness of living without having a price tag”.
When recalling him today, it is unavoidable to remember the words pronounced by his brother and loyal companion in struggles, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Raúl Castro Ruz and I quote: “Fidel´s eternal lesson is that Sí se puede (Yes, it´s possible), that man is capable of overcoming the most adverse conditions as long as his will to win remains unbeaten…”.
Indeed, Fidel taught us that Yes, it´s possible to make dreams and utopias become true even if it seems to be impossible.
Fidel shown us that the most precious thing is freedom and dignity; Socialism can be built in the face of the most powerful imperialist state of this world; the sick can be healed and the illiterate can be taught; health care and education can be provided; solidarity is sharing the little we have and not sharing what is left over because “Homeland is Humanity”; Apartheid could be defeated; Namibia could be free and Angola could maintain its independence;
The Palestinian and the Arab´s cause is fair because the occupation is unacceptable when a people is humiliated and its legitimate right to self-determination is denied; a better world is possible; the struggle for peace and preservation of Earth planet is an emergency for the sake of the survival of the human race; the only war we should start is the one against hunger, illiteracy, unhealthiness, and discriminations to conquer all possible justice.
Thus, being guided by his imperishable example and his legacy, we will be loyal to his conviction that if the Cuban people work passionately and decently, it will be Victorious!!!
Until always, Commander!
Long life to Fidel!
Long life to the Cuban Revolution!
(Embacuba Austria)